The three tasks I think you should work on in the coming week are among the hardest any human being can attempt. Luckily, you now have an unusually strong aptitude for them, and are likely to receive unexpected assistance if you’re brave enough to plunge ahead. Here they are.
Interrupt and overthrow negative trains of thought right in the middle of their flow through your brain. Negotiate partial solutions to complex problems. In other words, do the half-right thing when it’s impossible to do the totally right thing. Understand that in order to graduate from a certain batch of weird karma that has persisted, you must completely accept the situation as it is, acknowledge your role in precipitating and prolonging it, and feel gratitude for all that it has taught you.
This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2009.